Mark 13:3-13, The Beginning of Sorrows (1)

Let’s begin our verse-by-verse journey through the Olivet Discourse.  The beginning (13:5-6) and the end (13:21-23) of the discourse involves a warning from Jesus about deception.  We conclude from this that the purpose of the Discourse is to prevent deception.  Yes, Jesus is answering the questions of the disciples, and He gives what we call “signs of the times” concerning the “when” of the destruction of the temple and of His coming again.  But even these “signs” help serve the purpose of preventing deception.

It is amazing that deception in the Church had its start in the time that the Apostles were still alive and active.  Almost every NT epistle is written to deal with some kind of heresy.  We say it is “amazing” because you would think that as long as any of the Twelve were alive that their words would be the final say in any doctrinal differences.  But such was not the case.  Satan, the father of lies, never wastes any time in his desire to deceive God’s people.  Jesus said there would be many who would come in His name, claiming to be Him (13:6), meaning claiming to be Christ in His return.  He said in 13:22 there will be false christs and false prophets.  The Apostle John in his first epistle said Christians needed to “test the spirits” because “many false prophets have gone out into the world” (4:1).  Peter said that as there were false prophets in OT times that there would also be false teachers in the Church (2 Pt. 2:1).  Paul warned the Corinthian church that they had actually welcomed false apostles into their midst who were undermining Paul’s ministry (2 Cor. 11:13).  Later, in the same chapter, Paul spoke of one his constant challenges as dealing with false brethren (v26).  Jesus was right to make this a priority in answering the disciples’ questions.

We should also remember that some of the heresies the NT Church dealt with had to do with the doctrine of last things (eschatology).  In Paul’s early letters to the Thessalonian Church he had to correct the idea that “the day of Christ had come,” a deception that had been perpetrated in the church by some false brother (2 Th. 2:2).  Paul addressed the Church in Rome concerning the future place of Israel in God’s plan (Rom. 9-11, esp. 11:25-36), something the writer of Hebrews also addressed (Heb. 6:13-20).  One of the issues faced by the Corinthian Church was that there were some who denied that there would be a resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12).  In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he warned him of the deception that would be seen in the “latter times,” speaking of “deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy” (1 Tim. 4:1-5).  In 2 Timothy Paul spoke of the perilous times of the “last days” as being characterized by religion with “a form of godliness but denying its power” (3:1-5). 

Thus, again, we are reminded of the importance of understanding the Olivet Discourse.  Jesus was seeking to prevent deception which could rob believers of their hope and could even distort the gospel of God’s grace.  This is an important passage!